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they first bought Virgin becos they eyeing the lucrative London-NY (transatlantic route). At that time Heathrow was fully packed, they could not get an extra landing slot. neither could they get LON-JFK route. their only route then was via Frankfurt.
those were the pre-crisis days...where trans-atlantic route was profitable. They could not buy more than 49% because any airlines must be majority owned by the local company / local person. Otherwise, they are not allowed to fly in UK. ie. Virgin, being a UK airline must be majority owned by UK company or person.
I believe also, the long craving for Australia-US route has led them to do many money wasting things too..one of which is Ansett.
Very funny hor.
In UK, foreigners can buy property, football clubs, companies, but cannot buy airline. Maybe the rule has changed since then.